At Last
by ExceedinglyPeculiarChick
Summary: In which Percy and Annabeth beat the odds—again. / Dedicated to Taffeh A. Llama. Songfic of sorts to "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley.


**A/N: Dedicated to Taffeh A. Llama for being a fabulous human being and to wombat-of-awesomeness for giving good relationship advice. Happy Valentine's Day, guys!**

EPC

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have this dance?"

_Wise men say only fools rush in_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

"We made it," she whispers, clinging to his hands like her sanity depends on it.

Percy squeezes back just as tightly, not caring that they're the only two on the dance floor. He has Annabeth in his arms, and that is enough for now—enough to allow him to tolerate Aphrodite's squealing, at least.

_Shall I stay_

_Would it be a sin_

_If I can't help falling in love with you_

"I think Athena's staring at me," he murmurs. "It's getting kind of creepy, to be honest."

She reaches up with her free hand and brushes a wayward lock of hair out of his eyes. "Let her stare, Percy. All I care about right now is you and me."

His heartbeat picks up under their clasped hands.

_Like a river flows surely to the sea_

_Darling so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

He tears his gaze away from her beautiful eyes for one instant to glance around at the crowd now surrounding them—his beautiful, if not slightly dysfunctional, family—all together in one place (without, he's proud to add, anyone attempting to chop up their fathers with a scythe or eat their children).

Hazel and Frank have retreated to a corner, talking in hushed voices, but Percy can see them smiling even from where he's standing.

Jason has one arm around Thalia and the other around Piper. Even as Percy watches, the son of Jupiter flashes him a subtle thumbs-up, grins, and mouths, _Nice catch, Jackson._

He looks around instinctively for Leo before finding him holding court with Dakota over a crowd of swooning nymphs. (Clearly, the Macarena is popular with the ladies.) Rolling his eyes, he laughs quietly—almost to himself—and turns back to Annabeth.

_Take my hand, take my whole life too_

_Cause I can't help falling in love with you_

The box is burning a hole in his pocket, but he knows it's not time yet. He can't rush something like this—it has to fall into place at exactly the right moment.

Good things come to those who wait, Percy tells himself firmly. And Annabeth Chase is definitely a good thing.

_Wise men say only fools rush in_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

"Percy?" Annabeth asks, so quietly he has to bend down just to catch the words.

"What is it, Wise Girl?" he asks, resting his forehead against hers. Her hair, as always, smells like lemons—but there are other things too, ugly things: blood and dust and smoke and horrible reminders of the war that has just shaken their world.

And lemons. The ever-present tart scent clinging to her blonde curls is reassuring—like an anchor in a sea of uncertainty.

"Thank you. For everything."

_Shall I stay_

_Would it be a sin_

_If I can't help falling in love with you_

By the time they've all piled into the vans and headed back to camp, it's well past midnight and everyone's exhausted—so no one protests when Percy practically drags Annabeth to his cabin with him and locks the door.

He figures that if he doesn't have the balls to do this now, it'll probably never happen, but gods does he ever need this to go over well.

Percy takes a deep breath. He lets go of Annabeth's hand.

"Percy, what are you—?"

Digging the box out of his pocket, he mutters, "I figured it was about time I asked you an important question."

_Like a river flows so surely to the sea_

_Oh my darling so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

Annabeth waits—the excitement's written all over her face and she's practically bouncing up and down despite her obvious exhaustion, but she still waits—throughout Percy's attempt at a romantic speech.

He knows he agonized over what to say to her for _days_ and couldn't come up with something halfway decent, so where these words are coming from now is totally beyond him.

"…and I want to be with you forever, Annabeth, so please in the name of every god I can think of and a few I can't quite remember at the moment—will you marry me?"

She rolls her eyes and says, "Of course, you moron," and he laughs because it's just so _Annabeth_ of her to say that.

He stops laughing a minute later when she drags him off the floor and kisses him like there's no tomorrow.

_So won't you please take my hand, and take my whole life too_

_Cause I can't help falling in love, in love with you_

They're tangled up on his bed, neither one of them able to tell where one person ends and the other begins, when Annabeth suddenly starts laughing—a pealing bell sound that rings through the room.

"We made it," she gasps through the laughter. "We really lived through all that, Seaweed Brain."

It makes Percy happy to hear her laughter—even if he knows their happiness is temporary and the full magnitude of what they've just been through has yet to hit them. He tightens his grip around her waist, pulling her as close as he possibly can.

Annabeth reaches up to trace the contour of his jaw with one finger, and he shivers involuntarily at the contact. Slowly, gently, he reaches up to take her hand—wrapping his scarred, rough fingers around her thin, pale ones. The ring on her finger catches the moonlight coming through the window, throwing dancing spots of silver light across the walls.

"Tied down at seventeen." Her voice is half a whisper. "Percy, I…"

She falls silent. They're both thinking the same thing, though neither one of them says a word.

When he finally speaks up, his voice is low and rough and raw with emotion. "You don't have to wear it in public or anything like that if you don't want to. I just, you know, wanted you to have it. _This_" —he tightens his grip on Annabeth's hand— "is endgame. Nothing I can give you is ever going to represent that better than we can ourselves."

Her gaze softens. "Gods, Percy…"

He closes the distance between them—he's never been the one to initiate something like this before, so it's kind of a novelty—and kisses her again. (She takes the hint and stops trying to talk.)

_Cause I can't help falling in love, falling in love,_

_I keep falling in love with you_

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

The smile in Annabeth's voice is very, very real.

**A/N: Wanna know what the best part of Valentine's Day is? **

**February 15th when all the candy goes on sale.  
**

**Have a good one, everybody!**

**EPC **


End file.
